Doctor Who drops long-time composer Murray Gold for Season 11

Share This Post

Composer Murray Gold has been a staple of Doctor Who ever since the series revival under Russell T. Davies in 2005. However, with the arrival of a new showrunner in Chris Chibnall (Broadchurch), a new Doctor in Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch) and three new companions, seems the saying “out with the old, in with the new” also applies to the man who scored all 125 episodes of the series since the very first episode, “Rose.”

Gold has officially confirmed he won’t be returning for Season 11 during this year’s Gallifrey One convention in L.A. over the weekend, and the news will no doubt disappoint many Doctor Who fans who were expecting Gold to continue his stellar work on the timey wimey series.

More Doctor Who

Meaning the recent Christmas special, “Twice Upon a Time,” was not only departing showrunner Steven Moffat and 12th Doctor Peter Capaldi's swansongs; it also marked the last time Gold scored a Doctor Who episode. Let that sink in for a minute...

There’s no word yet on who will replace Gold as composer. But one thing that's sure is that the gig won't be going to another Broadchurch alum, composer Ólafur Arnalds. This one took himself out of the running back in December when rumors started making the rounds that Gold was going to be leaving the show following the Yuletide special.

The news of Gold’s departure from Doctor Who follows the recent report that long-time VFX company Milk VFX (which was part of The Mill) was also handing over special effects duties to another company. Handling them from now on will be the firm that recently did the FX for Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049, Double Negative.

But that’s not all. Just like Sarah Dollard (“Face the Raven,” “Thin Ice”) and Mark Gatiss before him, writer Jamie Mathieson (“Mummy on the Orient Express,” “Flatline,” “The Girl Who Died,” “Oxygen”) announced prior to Gallifrey One that he won’t be writing a script for Whittaker’s first season as the 13th Doctor. Mathieson said he did meet with Chibnall, saying that he’d “pitched a few ideas but it didn't pan out. Got flavour of what he has planned - Who is in good hands.”